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Developing games is incredibly hard, but you know what is harder? Developing Consoles. In a recent blog post, the developers from Sony Entertainment who worked on the PlayStation 4 outlined the mechanics that they thought were innovative and perfectly executed in games of 2017. So let us go ahead and take a look at what was exceptional enough to wow the developers.

NieR Automata: Game Modes
NieR was generally a game that was very hyped and delivered on its promise. One of the reasons was that it could provide a lot of replayability due to a large number of game modes that were available for the player.

Whether you like to play an open world RPG or one of those almost classic platformers, you could find something to suit you in NieR. Khalil Osaimi of Nex Machina and Matterfall applauded the game’s ability to switch from a hack N slash to a twin-stick shooter without interrupting the flow of the game.

Gravity Rush 2: Gravity Shifting
Michael Dobrowolski, who worked on the Witcher 3, was quick to point out how it is not exactly a new mechanic, but the execution of it in the game and the addition of the gravity styles made it so much fun to just use the mechanic and fly around the world, embracing freedom.

Assassin’s Creed: Origins: Control Precision
The new iteration of the AC franchise revitalized the series with a lot of new additions, perhaps the biggest one being the control precision that allowed players to walk along with cats.

Damien Kieken of Ubisoft praised the system for the freedom it gave the players whereas Fumihiko Yasuda of Team Ninja praised the feel and the quality of life improvements made to the system by the developers.

Hidden Agenda: PlayLink
Even though said by the developers of the game themselves, the system is quite intriguing and fun. The fact that this system was able to give design opportunities to the developers and increase the player base of the game.

Shadow of War: Nemesis System
The Nemesis system was praised for its complexity by Raul Rubio of Tequila Works. The fact that such a system exists in a sandbox game adds a brand new dimension to the gameplay and the mechanics that the system brought forth could be utilized in ways quite that are too many to comprehend.

Everybody’s Golf: Driving
As you will probably know if you live on this earth, driving is by no means a new concept. However, no Golf game had ever bothered to put in driving.

I mean, it is a game about putting the ball inside of a small hole, why would you need driving, right? Well now that someone has done it, it is quite easy to understand how it enriches the gameplay experience and how it just makes the game much more fun than it is otherwise.

As it was pointed out by John Johanas of Tango Gameworks, he had a blast just running his cart into other players. Moreover, although it is quite fun to do so, it can get you banned if you overdo it.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice: dark rot
Gavin Price of Playtonic was quite impressed with the dark rot that is present in Hellblade. He stated that the visuals of the dark rot were quite stunning and what it represented in the game was quite well reflected through its visuals, allowing the setting to immerse the players much more than it would have otherwise.

Horizon Zero Dawn
The Stealth mechanics of Horizon have been critically acclaimed and loved by the users alike. As such, it is no surprise that the developers of the games were also quite pleased and satisfied with the finished product.

James Valls of Rebellion is no stranger to stealth mechanics, as he was an integral part of the Sniper Elite 4 development team. He stated how the stealth in Horizon is amazing due to the effects and the takedowns that you can do. He was very pleased with the visuals of the game while you are in stealth mode.

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age: Double Speed Mode
Hiroaki Kato of Square Enix was another person with no shortage of ego, as he stated his favorite mechanic of 2017 was the Double Speed mode of a game that he developed.

The main reason for this was the fact that RPGs were often very slow paced which made it a viable experience for those who really enjoyed them. The double speed mode would allow players to quickly go through the game without feeling like they had to waste too much of their time.

What were your favorite gameplay mechanics of the games that were released in 2017? Let us know using the comments section below!